| Title | MAWBIMA-MOSQUITO REPELLANT PAPER |
| Brand | CEYLON NEWSPAPERS |
| Product / Service | MAWBIMA |
| Category | B04. Consumer Services |
| Entrant | LEO BURNETT SOLUTIONS Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Entrant Company | LEO BURNETT SOLUTIONS Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Advertising Agency | LEO BURNETT SOLUTIONS Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Media Agency | STARCOM WORLDWIDE Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Production Company | X TEN STUDIO Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Production Company 2 | INFINITY PICTURES Kohuwela, SRI LANKA |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Trevor Kennedy | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Chief Creative Officer |
| Sithum Walter | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Group Head |
| Shayani Obeyesekera | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Senior Art Director |
| Eraj Wirasinha | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Director |
| Michael Holsinger | Starcom Worldwide Sri Lanka | Chief Executive Officer |
| Athula Kathriarachchi | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Director |
| Malaka Samith | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Copy Writer |
| Shivanthi Jayasinghe | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Director |
| Tasneem Siddeqque | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Public Relations Executive |
| Sean Pompeus | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Senior Brand Manager |
| Nilusha Wanasinghe | Starcom Worldwide Sri Lanka | Senior Media Manager |
| Chandani Abeyrathne | Starcom Worldwide Sri Lanka | Media Manager |
| Jayantha Liyanage | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Digitial Artist |
| Mehnaz Ilhamdeen | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Director Operations |
| Dennis Mather | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Senior Executive Digital Art Production |
| Prasad Chaturanga | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Illustrator |
| Nadeera Warawita | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Visualiser |
| Hassan Samdin | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Visualiser |
| Dileep Kulathunga | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Associate Creative Director |
| Farzad Mohideen | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Group Head |
| Caryll Van Dort | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Director Public Relations |
| Roshenka Jayamaha | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Group Head PR -Content & Strategy |
In 2013, Dengue, the deadly mosquito-borne fever reached epidemic proportions in Sri Lanka. Infecting over 30,000 people, the disease had taken many lives, including those of young children. ‘Mawbima,’ an up and coming mass-market newspaper, saw an opportunity to make a difference and get more Sri Lankans to connect with its paper.
People read the newspaper in the early morning and evening - the very time the Dengue mosquito strikes. This gave us an idea: if we mixed citronella essence, a highly effective natural repellent, with ink, we could give Sri Lankans a newspaper which not only educated them on Dengue, but one where every letter of every word stopped mosquitoes form biting them and protected them from an epidemic.
Despite a bigger print run, Mawbima sold out by 10am,increasing sales by 30% and connecting the paper to 300,000 more Sri Lankans – more than it ever expected. Mawbima’s innovative paper was also commended by over 90 international media outlets, including the BBC, the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. On social media, it earned thousands of likes, shares and comments, including one from Bill Gates. The paper was even cited as an example of how the print industry could revive itself and publications around the world have shown a massive interest in copying the idea.
Our creative execution, which involved an ingenious modification to the ink used by our client, turned Mawbima into the world's first mosquito-repellent newspaper. It gave readers something that was not only original and truly useful but also showed that the paper was innovative and genuinely concerned. The full campaign for Mawbima included press ads and posters featuring letters in the style of Mawbima's masthead stopping mosquitos from passing through - a very powerful depiction of how every letter of every word stopped dengue. The posters used our mosquito-repellent ink provided protection to people at bus stops.